There are two main categories of fouling organisms:

Micro-fouling organisms: These are mainly microbial and bacterial in nature and quickly
colonize any immersed object to form a bio-film, or slime. The bio-film is a sticky
coating which accumulates on the surface, providing food and a convenient interface
where large macro-fouling organisms can attach. Common slimes include:
o Diatoms
o Bacteria
o Protozoa

Macro-fouling organisms: These are larger animals and plants, and adhere either as
individuals or in large colonies. These larger species pose more numerous and severe
problems as compared to the micro-fouling type. In addition to the immersed materials,
these species can find their way into cooling systems when water is drawn directly from
natural sources such as lakes, rivers or coastal waters. Common organisms include:

o Animal fouling organisms:

Oysters

Clams

Tube worms

Mussels

Barnacles

Hydroids

Bryozoans

o Plant fouling organisms:

Ectocarpus (brown algae)

Enteromorpha (green algae)

Rhodophycea (red algae)

Fouling organisms lead to bio-fouling where they start growing on immersed object surfaces
immediately upon submersion or when they come into contact with the surfaces, such as in
cooling towers. This leads to corrosion and deterioration of metallic parts, resulting in reduced
efficiency, material failure and expensive repairs.
Typical control methods to prevent or reduce the effects of fouling organisms are:

Use of oxidizing and nonoxidizing antimicrobials

Chemical or thermal treatment of water for heat exchange systems

Proper waste water disposal

Mechanical cleaning

Use of antifouling paints

Key fouling organisms

Despite the high diversity of fouling communities which depends on a multitude of
factors
(e.g. nature of substrate surface, geographical zone, depth, water quality, current,
competitors,
and the numbers of propagules), the main fouling groups reported are the following
multicellular sessile forms including algae and animals grouped by their common name
(phylum/class) [7].
Algae - Brown algae (phylum: Ochrophyta / class: Phaeophyceae)
- Green algae (Chlorophyta / Chlorophyceae)
- Red algae (Rhodophyta / Florideophyceae)
Algae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically
autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular (microalgae cf
Diatoms) to multicellular forms, the latter are often called
seaweeds, with 10,000 species and belong to macrofoulers. They
are eukaryotes, photosynthetic (like plants) and simple because
they lack the many distinct organs found in land plans. All true
algae therefore have a nucleus enclosed within a membrane and
chloroplasts bound in one or more membranes.
4
Sea squirts
- Urochordata = Tunicata / Ascidiaceae

Ascidacea (commonly known as the ascidians or sea squirts) is

a class in the Tunicata subphylum of sack-like marine invertebrate
filter feeders. They are globally distributed, usually found in
shallow waters with salinities over 2.5 %. They are mostly sessile
animals with 2,300 species reported.
Barnacles
- Arthropoda / Crustacea
Barnacles are a type of arthropod belonging to the infraclass
Cirripedia in the subphylum Crustacea, and are hence distantly
related to crabs and lobsters. Barnacles are exclusively marine and
tend to live in shallow and tidal waters. Barnacles are encrusters,
attaching themselves permanently to hard substrate. They are
sessile suspension feeders and have distinct nektonic larval stages,
the nauplius and the cyprids, before developing into a mature adult.
Around 12,000 barnacle species are currently known.
Bryozoans
- Ectoprocta Bryozoa / various classes
Bryozoans (also known as sea mats) are colonial animals
and many millions of individuals can form one colony. These
colonies range from millimetres to metres in size, but the
individuals that constitute the colonies (the zooids) are usually
less than a millimetre long. Bryozoan skeletons, growing in a
variety of shapes and patterns, have numerous tiny openings,
each of which is the home of a zooid. They generally prefer
warm, shallow tropical waters, but are known to occur globally. Most species of
Bryozoan
are sessile, live in marine environments and may be found on all types of hard substrates.
There are about 8,000 species.
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Hydroids - Cnidaria / Hydrozoa
Cnidaria is a phylum containing some 9,000 species of
animals found exclusively in aquatic, mostly marine,
environments. The corals, which are important reef builders
belong in this phylum, along with sea anemones, jellyfish,
sea pens, and sea wasps. There are five main classes of
Cnidaria: Anthozoa (anemones, corals etc.), Scyphozoa
(jellyfish), Staurozoa (stalked jellyfish), Hydrozoa (hydroids,
hydromedusae and siphonophores: e.g. Obelia sp.). Only the
former and latter include sessile forms involved in biofouling processes.
Mussels
- Mollusca / Bivalvia The word mussel is used for members of several

different families of filter feeders, clams or bivalve molluscs,

from both saltwater and freshwater habitats. They possess a
protective, external dorsal shell of protein reinforced by
calcareous spicules or form one to eight calcareous plates.
Most frequently, mussels refer to edible bivalves of the
marine family Mytilidae, most of which live on exposed
shores in the intertidal zone, attached by means of strong
byssal threads (beard) to a firm substrate.
Serpulids
- Common name tubeworm (Annelida / Polychaeta)
Serpulidae is a family of sessile, tube-building annelid worms
in the class of Polychaeta. The members of this family (also
called spirorbids or calcareous tubeworms) have a specialised
operculum that blocks the entrance of their tubes when they
withdraw into the tubes. Serpulids are filter feeders that secrete
tubes of calcium carbonate and many of them bore into coral or
rock before doing so.
Overall, there are only a few studies which describe the fouling communities on ship
hulls
[8,9]. Temporal and spatial fouling assemblages were mostly studied on static artificial
substrata such as panels (e.g. [8, 10-16], pilings and pontoons [17], artificial reefs
[18,19],
submerged natural rocks (e.g.[17, 20-22]) or aquaculture cages (a review in [23]).
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute survey in 1952 was the only truly
comprehensive published review on the fouling assemblages on manmade materials and
more
specifically for this current project, on ship hulls [24]. The ship data includes yachts,
skiffs,
barges and vessels of all descriptions, while the manmade materials included pipes, buoys